all it takes is faith and trust
by jellybean96
Summary: All she wants is to find him. Needs to find. Has to believe that she'll find him. He's become one of her best friends. She cannot lose him so soon after really starting to get to know him. After really starting to trust him.


**Hey babes! Back again with a new story for you! I wanted to get this one out before the new episode airs because it's my own little take on the aftermath of finding Malcolm, and whatnot. This was very fun to write, and it ended up longer than I'd originally planned because I didn't like the ending before. But I think the new ending works pretty well. :)**

**Enjoy!**

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She's going out of her mind. They all are. She's surprised that even that FBI woman who hates Malcolm is getting antsy about their profiler going missing. Though, she figures that might have more to do with the fact that Malcolm jumped on her investigation even when he wasn't supposed to be looking into it and she wants to make him deal with the consequences of that.

But none of that matters to Dani. All she wants is to find him. _Needs _to find. Has to believe that she'll find him. He's become one of her best friends. She cannot lose him so soon after really starting to get to know him. After really starting to trust him.

She suspects his family doesn't want to lose him either, and she can't possibly know exactly how they feel. But she thinks she has an idea. It's different for her, though. It's different. She can't really put her finger on why it's different, just that it is.

And it's that feeling that pushes her to work extra hard on finding Malcolm, on bringing him home, back to the people who care about him and love him.

In the end, it takes them a lot longer than she would have liked, but they find him. And he's far from okay. She can tell that right away the moment she sees him. He's chained to the floor, mumbling to himself with sweat coating his skin as well as dried and fresh blood on his face. He looks skinnier too, in an unhealthy way. Normally a sight like that wouldn't make her think twice, having been to way too many crime scenes to count over her career as a cop. But this time it's personal. This time it's someone she cares about and they're hurt. Badly.

He seems out of it, way too out of it to notice any of them in the room with him. But then Gil slowly approaches him and he freaks out. He starts screaming and pulling against the chains that are holding him down. It breaks her heart, it honestly does. Her mind flashes back to when he flipped out at the precinct during that first case, how she held him on the ground while he came out of his nightmare.

"Bright," she calls out in a tone that she hopes is calm and steady. "Bright, can you hear me? You're safe now. He can't hurt you. It's just us. You're safe now." She inches forward slowly and gets lower to the ground with each word, her hands up, palms open, hoping to convey that she isn't a threat to him.

It works. Momentarily.

He calms down enough for her to get closer, almost close enough to break the chains with the provided tools, and then he flips out again.

"No!" he shouts as he shakes his head, his breath ragged. "No. He—he said that he—he hurt...no."

"Bright, hey. Malcolm, look at me. I'm right here. We're all right here. Your mom and sister are waiting for you to come home." She steps forward again, slowly reaching for the restraints that are holding him. "I'm going to undo your restraints, okay?" She reaches behind her for whatever tool they have on hand to cut Bright free. "Just...stay calm."

Thankfully he's able to stay calm long enough for them to get him free and then outside to the waiting ambulance. She wants to ride in the ambulance with him, needing to know that he's okay, that he's going to continue to be okay.

But then she sees Gil, sees the look on his face as he watches Malcolm being loaded into the ambulance. So she suggests that he go with, because she has a feeling he might not suggest it himself.

She offers to call Malcolm's family for him, to let them know what's going on, what hospital he's going to be at. She can see the gratitude in Gil's eyes, she knows how much he's cared about Malcolm since they first met.

She watches the ambulance drive away and then she's calling Malcolm's mother. She doesn't have his sister's number, and his mother sort of already knows who she is. She just hopes the woman hasn't been sitting by her phone the entire time without taking any kind of break. It wouldn't surprise her, though. Not in the slightest.

.

.

.

All she wants to do is wrap him up in a blanket in the comfiest clothes that he owns, with multiple cups of tea at his disposal, and never let him leave his apartment for the foreseeable future. He's been through too much and just needs to take a break. But deep down she knows that isn't going to work. He's not the type of person to just sit idly by. But it doesn't mean she can't at least try.

His mother has stepped out to speak with the doctor and his sister is doing who knows what.

She offered to step in and wait with Malcolm in case he wakes up. That way he doesn't wake up alone.

She just hates seeing him like this. She may not have known him for very long yet, but she knows for a fact that she doesn't like seeing him laid up like this.

She hesitates for only a moment before reaching forward to grab one of his hands in both of hers, holding onto it tightly.

"Hey, Bright. I'm not...I'm not sure if you can hear me right now. I've heard that people can hear things when they're in comas. Even though you're not really in a coma, just sleeping very heavily because you're sedated." She sighs heavily, running one hand through her hair as she watches him sleep.

It's slightly unnerving, watching him be so quiet and still. She's only ever seen him like this when he's been unconscious, that one time she knocked him out to keep him from hurting himself.

"I really hope you're okay after all of this," she says to him, despite him not being able to answer her. "Knowing you, though, you'll probably pretend like you are so no one will worry about you. But you don't need to do that, alright? If you're not going to be okay, then you don't have to be okay," her voice cracks involuntarily. She clears her throat, trying to get rid of the lump that's formed there.

"Malcolm?"

"He's still asleep," she says to the woman stepping into the room, doing her best to keep her voice even. She doesn't turn around, though. She knows it's not his mom or sister, so it must be the woman he's been seeing; Eve. That's the only possible explanation. "He's on some pretty heavy anesthesia to keep him asleep." She finally turns to face the other woman, pulling her lips into a tight smile. "I don't think we've actually met. I'm Dani, I work with Bright."

"I'm his girlfriend, Eve."

"Girlfriend, huh?" She's not sure exactly what her tone of voice is, though she knows she has a raised brow. She resists the urge to bring up the fact that Malcolm told her he thought he scared Eve away because of everything he's been through. She resists the urge to cause any turmoil in their already rocky relationship. "Well, it's nice to officially meet you, Eve. Have his mom and sister finished speaking with the doctor yet?"

"I don't know." Eve moves further into the room, dropping her bag and approaching Malcolm's bedside.

Dani quickly stands from her seat and moves out of the way, sliding her hands into the pockets of her jeans and watching the scene unfold.

She watches as Eve takes up the seat she herself had just been occupying, and grabs onto the hand of Malcolm's that she'd just been holding. It doesn't sit right with her.

A small gasp from Eve draws Dani's attention again just in time to see Malcolm's hand twitch. Then his eyebrows. Then the rest of his face.

She fights back her need to move closer. This isn't her place, it's Eve's. She watches as Malcolm's eyes slowly open and then dart around the space, looking for something in particular or nothing at all. She never knows with him.

His eyes land on her and she swallows thickly at the look he's giving her. She can't place it. But it makes her skin crawl. In a good way.

Eve speaking to him pulls Malcolm's attention away from her and she uses that as her opportunity to slip away. She doesn't bother looking in Malcolm's direction again, doesn't want to see the way he interacts with his apparent girlfriend.

She thinks she's free and clear until she's stopped by Malcolm's mom and sister in the hallway when she's on her way out. She takes a deep breath in, preparing herself for whatever's coming, and then turns around to face them. She plasters a smile on her face, knowing it doesn't reach up to her eyes. "Hi."

"You're Dani, right?" Ainsley speaks up. "You work with my brother?"

"Yeah, I do."

The next thing she knows, Ainsley has practically thrown herself on Dani, the other woman's arms wrapping tightly around her.

Dani's a bit taken aback at first, but then slowly returns the hug, though it ends just a few seconds later.

"I just wanted to thank you," Ainsley tells her. "You saved my brother. Thank you."

"It was really more of a team effort," Dani insists, sliding her hands into the pockets of her jeans. And it was. It's not like she did everything herself.

"Gil said you were able to talk Malcolm down from freaking out or something. That was you. So thank you."

"I just...I did what any of us would have done. Your brother probably would have done the same if it were one of us that had been taken."

"Oh, just take the compliment, dear," Jessica Whitley speaks up as she steps closer. "And thank you for staying with Malcolm while we spoke with the doctor."

"No problem. Uh, Eve is in there now. Bright's awake too."

Ainsley's face brightens. "Oh, that's great." She doesn't say anything more as she makes her way into Malcolm's hospital room.

Dani turns to leave, again, when she's stopped, again, by Jessica's voice. As well as a hand on her arm.

"I know my daughter already thanked you, but I wanted to thank you as well."

"Like I said, any of us would have done it. Bright's a good guy, part of the team."

"You care about my son."

"He's my friend."

The lips of Jessica's lips turn up. "Well, I'm very happy to hear that. He never did seem able to make too many of those. I'm...I'm glad he has someone like you in his life. He could certainly use more people to look out for him."

"Well, he's got a whole team looking out for him. I think...I think we've all grown pretty attached to him. Might keep him around for a bit." She lets a small hint of a smile cross onto her lips. She takes a deep breath and stands a little taller. "I'm sure you want to go see your son now, and I have some paperwork that needs to get done."

Jessica nods. "Of course. I hope to see you around again soon, Dani."

Dani simply smiles and nods, turning on her heel to leave the hospital. She wasn't wrong when she said she needed to finish some paperwork. She just also can't stay in the hospital right now, knowing that Eve is in there with Malcolm. The woman who supposedly got scared off by the ghosts of Malcolm's past. Dani wouldn't be scared. She hasn't been since the day they met. Not of Malcolm or his past.

And somehow, she thinks Jessica Whitley knows that. Maybe it's one of those parental superpowers people always hear about.

Either way, she has a pretty strong feeling the woman is going to find ways to make sure Dani's around her son more and more. Not that Dani really minds the idea. She needs to know for herself that he's going to be okay. However she's able to do that, she doesn't care. Just as long as she can.

.

.

.

And she's able to just a few weeks later. Malcolm hasn't been back to the precinct yet, despite his every insistence that he was fine and would benefit from getting right back to work. Gil somehow convinced him to stay home, and really relax and make sure he's in the right headspace before coming back. Malcolm hadn't seemed too thrilled at the idea, but he agreed.

And his absence is definitely felt. It's different from the absence they'd all felt when he'd been kidnapped. This time they know exactly where he is, he's just not coming in to work.

They're in the middle of a case when Dani gets the call. She's only a little surprised when she sees that it's Jessica Whitley calling her. She answers the call with furrowed brows, excusing herself from the conference room where Gil and JT are, moving toward her desk.

"Hello?"

"Dani?"

"Yes."

"Oh, good. I'm concerned about my son and was hoping you'd be able to help me."

"Um...I haven't actually seen Bright in a few weeks. Gil told him to take some time so I assume he's just been at his apartment relaxing. Well, trying to relax."

"Right, of course. It's just...I've been calling him but he's not answering my calls, and apparently, Eve is no longer able to check up on him for me for whatever ridiculous reason. As much as it goes against my every instinct, I'm choosing not to just use my key and check on him myself. I know he's been a little...different since you all found him, and I just want to know he's doing okay. I just wish he would talk to someone."

She almost can't believe she's let Malcolm's mother manipulate her into saying what she's about to say. Not that it would have taken much convincing. She's been pretty worried about Malcolm's well-being after what happened with Paul Lazar. "Um, I could always...I could always go over there for you, to check on him. Make sure he's doing okay."

"Oh, would you? That's very generous. Thank you."

"Anytime."

They exchange a few more words and then Dani's off the phone. She lets out a breath, running one hand through her hair as she contemplates just leaving or telling Gil first.

Ultimately, she knows it'll go over better if she tells Gil first, so she does. Thankfully, he understands the ways of Jessica Whitley and lets her go so she can check on Malcolm.

When she arrives at his place she lets herself in easily, using the spare key he'd given to her "in case of an emergency". She could tell it was big for him at the time, trusting someone basically with his entire life. It must have taken a great deal of courage and psyching himself up in order to do it. And she's glad that he did.

As soon as she enters his apartment, she doesn't see him. She listens carefully for any sign of him, but so far she doesn't find one. She sees his parakeet, Sunshine, still in her cage, looking healthy, so she takes that as a good sign. He hasn't been neglecting his bird. But that doesn't necessarily mean he hasn't been neglecting himself.

"Bright?" she calls out as she moves further into the apartment, sliding her jacket off and draping it over the nearest piece of furniture she can find.

She searches through every area of his apartment, looking and listening for any sign of him. Her heart is pounding the entire time, worry for the profiler completely taking her over.

It takes a minute, but she finally finds him curled up on the floor of his bathroom. His back is against the wall, knees pulled up to his chest and his head down. He's muttering quietly to himself and it makes her entire chest ache. It reminds her of that time she'd had to babysit him after his accidental drug trip, and he'd freaked out before locking himself in the bathroom.

Slowly moving into the bathroom, she crouches down, keeping her hands out. "Bright? Can you hear me?"

His head shoots up, the panic in his eyes receding when he recognizes her. The panic morphs into pain and he frowns deeply. "I'm not okay," he whispers.

It's like a switch flips and she's immediately in caretaker mode, getting him up off the floor and cleaning him up a bit. Then she settles him on the couch wrapping the biggest, warmest blanket she can find around him, and gets a kettle of water going for some tea. When she glances over to the living room area, she realizes that this is exactly what she wanted to do to him right after they found him. She wanted to protect him and take care of him. And now she is.

"You should have called someone," she calls out to him after a moment as she prepares their drinks. "Your mom is pretty worried about you. She asked me to come over and check on you." _Not that it would have taken much convincing_, she thinks.

She finishes up their teas and carries both drinks over to the couch, setting them on the coffee table. She settles herself on the couch, pulling her legs up underneath her and resting her elbow on the back of the couch to rest her head in her hand.

"I'm not going to ask if you're okay because you already told me you aren't. But are you up to talking? To letting me know what's going on?"

She sees him swallow and then shift a little on the couch.

His eyes drop down to the floor beneath them. "I saw Paul. I see him most nights. Sometimes during the day. This one was the worst."

She hesitantly reaches out for his shoulder, unsure how he'll react. Thankfully, he doesn't seem to react too badly, just tenses up a little before relaxing when he realizes that it's her. She carefully pulls him down so his head is resting in her lap, his eyes staring across the room at the opposite wall.

Using her hand that isn't supporting her head, she cards her fingers through his hair, gently massaging his scalp. "You know you don't have to deal with this alone, right? Gil, JT, Edrisa, your mom, your sister...me." She breathes in deeply. "We're all here for you. You have people to lean on, Malcolm. You just have to let us in."

"I want to," he tells her, his voice almost nonexistent. He turns his head a little so he can look up at her. "I want to. But I'm not...I'm not entirely sure how."

She gives him one of her rare, soft smiles, her fingers continuing to slowly move through his hair. "Letting me be here taking care of you is a pretty good place to start."

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**So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.**

**Until next time,  
Jellybean96 out!**


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